Carolina Public Press
Annual Report 2021

From the Founder and Executive Director

Dear friends,

At the top of my Ta-Da list for 2021 is completing the 10th anniversary year of Carolina Public Press. After several years of research, talking with friends and colleagues and mentors, putting together a business plan and hashing out details, I launched the first wholly independent nonprofit news organization devoted to investigative reporting from my kitchen table in Asheville, N.C. It was March 3, 2011, a beautiful spring day. I was also eight months pregnant with my youngest daughter.

Whew!

People often ask me what I thought would happen, what I had hoped to achieve. I often say that ignorance is bliss, and that I’m furiously, obstinately optimistic at times. I’m joking, of course, but there’s a kernel or two of truth in there.

I couldn’t have guessed that I would be writing this thank you to you–our readers, members, listeners, partners, collaborators, skeptics, mentors, followers and more–more than a decade later, in the third year of an unprecedented pandemic.

A lot has changed.

I’m no longer by myself at the metaphorical kitchen table. (Though I never was, really. My friends, family, contacts, an amazing advisory board, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and The Institute for Southern Studies propelled Carolina Public Press into life through funding, donations, organizational help, mentorship, perspective and encouragement.)

At first, Carolina Public Press was an experiment to solve a known community need for nonpartisan investigative and in-depth journalism in Western North Carolina that focused on the public interest. Then, I encountered a ton of quizzical looks, skepticism and more. Oh, the people who told me they couldn’t wait until I “got a real job!”

Now, more than a decade later, there are nonprofit newsrooms popping up across the state. With CPP holding more than 30 community conversation events, experiencing hard points of learning, successes and failures, and publishing thousands of stories (still available for free), I’m happy we could help pave the way.

And, now, our nonprofit organization has a staff of nine full-time and one part-time employees. While still headquartered in Asheville, we work statewide now. Our staff members are across the state, from the mountains to the coast, as are the dozens of freelance and contract journalists who join us on projects and assignments. Plus, we have a growing board of directors who are working to make sure we keep to our mission, reflect the state we serve and grow with sustainability in mind. In 2022, for the first time, we have a benefits package for our employees that includes health insurance.

Our North Star is bright. Our ambitions are beyond what I could have anticipated 10 years ago. 

I’ve never worked with a group of people more dedicated to ethical, high-quality journalism. And, most of all, we’ve proven through ten years of grit, innovation and sheer determination, that our news organization fills a void, has true impact, is sustainable and remains founded in and devoted to North Carolina.

Our mission of nonpartisan in-depth and investigative news in the public interest that’s built on the facts and context we need to know is needed more than ever. News that is free and accessible. There’s plenty of politics-driven and corporate paywall-protected news out there. That’s not us.

Thousands of donor members support our work, vision and mission. Local, statewide and national foundations support us, too. Members make up about 30% of our operating budget, depending on the year. That supports CPP in every way, from helping a reporter pay for gas to keeping our website running. Together, we’ve raised several million dollars to support investigative public-interest news in North Carolina. Every single cent has been and still is invested into independent investigative public-service news in this state. There’s no hedge fund, policy or advocacy organization, or national network behind our work.

But there’s more to come – 2022 and more.

We are working daily to be the go-to sustainable independent, in-depth and investigative news arm for North Carolina. We want to be home to the biggest team of nonpartisan investigative reporters in the state who are working for you, no matter where you live in North Carolina.

We’re really close. We know broadband access and news deserts are already a problem in getting the news across the state. In 2022, we’re working on a big research project, with support from the Google News Initiative and Dogwood Health Trust. It will gather data on what news and information people without high-speed broadband access miss and how they do and want to engage with news organizations. This will help our news product development. And there are hundreds of uses for this information in this state and beyond.

In 2022, we’re also putting more investments into local journalism in Western and Eastern North Carolina on government accountability reporting and more. That’s on top of our stellar local and statewide investigative reporting, which we’ll continue to grow.

You are critical to this. You’ve provided news tips, sent in questions, challenged us when we got it wrong. You cheered when our work helped lead to legislative change, the prosecution of misdeeds by public officials and the release of public records and opened courtrooms. You’ve invited us into your homes and offices. You’ve told us heart-wrenching stories about your lives. Those of you who can have given your charitable dollars to help make this happen. Every member is so important, and a gift at any size makes you a member for a year.

I never take this for granted. It’s a great privilege to be a journalist and work in the independent nonprofit investigative news sector. For me, it’s rooted in public service to my state.

I know that Carolina Public Press is firmly headed into our second decade dedicated to North Carolina and nonpartisan investigative and public-service news, on what goes overlooked and under-reported and to the people who can’t easily access trustworthy local news.

Thank you for an incredible first decade. We really couldn’t do it without you, and we can’t wait to see what we can continue to do – together.

With gratitude,
Angie Newsome

From the Managing Editor

Many news issues from COVID-19 to police shootings to redistricting drew coverage throughout 2021 as they emerged and evolved. But much of our work behind the scenes was on major reporting projects. I coordinated closely with our news team, freelancers and other CPP staff to plan, produce and promote these projects to ensure maximum exposure, impact and engagement for high-quality informative journalism. In several cases, we also planned virtual events and outside media appearances to expand the reach of this reporting and engage with both readers and topical experts or stakeholders. 

In January we produced “Finding Nurses,” focusing on the lack of information about locations of sexual assault nurse examiners throughout the state. In June we released “Patchwork Protection,” examining the state’s hands-off approach to child welfare that results in wide disparities from county to county. September saw the release of “Changing Tides,” a project on the effect of climate change on coastal fishing, ironically delayed a few weeks because of weather conditions when we tried to take photographs. In October, we published “Raising Jails,” on the process by which North Carolina counties decide to commit resources to expanding or building jails, including potential policy alternatives. 

While we’ve done major projects previously, this is the first year in which we’ve had this volume of these large investigative and enterprising projects. The Changing Tides project alone was five parts and also supported bonus content in a special newsletter. For several of these projects, we included substantial data visualizations to help tell the story — not new for us, but a bigger commitment to these graphics than in previous years.  Team members often have spent many months researching these issues before a single word appears in print, so each of them represents a phenomenal undertaking and team initiative. To say we are proud of these accomplishments would be an understatement. Regardless, our hope is that our work is meaningful to the people of North Carolina.